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The fact that the brain train doesn't exist....ugh
ATL, Downtown, Midtown/Tech/Atlantic Station, Lindbergh, Buckhead Gwinnett, UGA. THERE IS SO MUCH POTENTIAL IN THAT LINE! It could easily serve as a regional and high frequency commuter line. I know there are some major issues, but the potential there should be realized and investment should be made.
I totally and completely agree!
If executed correctly, the Brain Train has so much overwhelming potential that if executed properly and correctly, it could potentially be one of the most successful high-capacity passenger rail transit lines in North America and probably even in the Western Hemisphere and even on the entire planet.
I say this because just the nature of where the rail line will run, connecting 6 sizable university campuses at the Atlanta University Center, Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Emory, Georgia Gwinnett College and the University of Georgia and serving a demographic that does not always have steady access to personal vehicles (in college-aged youths), means that the line will have no shortage of riders.
If the line connects directly to the Atlanta Airport at the Atlanta end and connects directly to Sanford Stadium on the campus of UGA at the Athens end, it is extremely-likely that the passenger rail line will be a smashing success.
It is because the Brain Train passenger rail line will have such a large built-in customer base of college-aged students without vehicles, sports fans (to football and basketball games at GT, UGA, the Georgia Dome/future Falcons Stadium and Philips Arena), rush hour commuters on I-85/GA 316/US 29 (between Athens and Atlanta), airport travelers (conventioneers/business travelers, etc...if the Atlanta end of the line is extended south to connect with the World's busiest airport), etc, that the concept of the Brain Train should be upgraded so that the train operates as a 24-hour regional heavy rail transit line between the Atlanta Airport and Sanford Stadium on the campus of UGA in Athens.
With the amount of potential that the Brain Train possesses, the rail line should have absolutely no problem attracting the amount of private capital necessary to make the line a reality.
...If the concept of the line is presented to prospective investors as a full-service 24-hour heavy rail transit line with highly-profitable large-scale high-density mixed-use real estate developments at transit stations along both the Brain Train route and connecting bus routes and the future potential for upgraded GA 316, US 29 and US 78 roadways to become part of the investment over the long-term.
If executed correctly, the Brain Train has so much overwhelming potential that if executed properly and correctly, it could potentially be one of the most successful high-capacity passenger rail transit lines in North America and probably even in the Western Hemisphere and even on the entire planet.
I say this because just the nature of where the rail line will run, connecting 6 sizable university campuses at the Atlanta University Center, Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Emory, Georgia Gwinnett College and the University of Georgia and serving a demographic that does not always have steady access to personal vehicles (in college-aged youths), means that the line will have no shortage of riders.
If the line connects directly to the Atlanta Airport at the Atlanta end and connects directly to Sanford Stadium on the campus of UGA at the Athens end, it is extremely-likely that the passenger rail line will be a smashing success.
It is because the Brain Train passenger rail line will have such a large built-in customer base of college-aged students without vehicles, sports fans (to football and basketball games at GT, UGA, the Georgia Dome/future Falcons Stadium and Philips Arena), rush hour commuters on I-85/GA 316/US 29 (between Athens and Atlanta), airport travelers (conventioneers/business travelers, etc...if the Atlanta end of the line is extended south to connect with the World's busiest airport), etc, that the concept of the Brain Train should be upgraded so that the train operates as a 24-hour regional heavy rail transit line between the Atlanta Airport and Sanford Stadium on the campus of UGA in Athens.
With the amount of potential that the Brain Train possesses, the rail line should have absolutely no problem attracting the amount of private capital necessary to make the line a reality.
...If the concept of the line is presented to prospective investors as a full-service 24-hour heavy rail transit line with highly-profitable large-scale high-density mixed-use real estate developments at transit stations along both the Brain Train route and connecting bus routes and the future potential for upgraded GA 316, US 29 and US 78 roadways to become part of the investment over the long-term.
I think you are vastly overestimating the benefits of linking the colleges. You are talking about a project that would cost several hundred million dollars (at a minimum). How many riders do you think would use this on a daily basis? How many college students would use this on an average weekday? I don't think very many. While it sounds nice to to link those schools, what is the practical benefit to provide a 70-90 minute link between these locations? Sure it would help with gamedays in the Fall, but that is about 7 days a year. How many UGA students are really looking to get down to Phillips Arena for a Hawks game? Sure there might be 7-10 concert events a year that might attract a few hundred riders, but other than that, I don't see much demand. What estimates are you using that you think the ridership would justify the cost? I just don't see the demand as commuter rail let alone 24 hour heavy rail transit. How do you estimate private investment would yield a return on investment? Heck, even at a few thousand riders a day (I think that is a fair, if not optimistic estimate), how does anyone make money on it? Sure they can develop real estate around the stops, but put some numbers together to justify the enthusiasm you are spewing.
If anything, this could be a potential commuter rail route and should be sold that way as linking the Gwinnett county area and the Athens corridor to downtown. Even here, I think the cost-benefit would be iffy.
Wow, the world must be ending, I actually agree with Mr. Corndog, but only to a point. As a standalone rail operation, it would certainly be a success if ran like a conventional commuter rail route with maybe 30 minute headways during peak periods, 1-2 hour headways throughout the day with the rush hour service centered on Atlanta (westbound morning, eastbound evening) but not limited to Atlanta-peak-only the way the Xpress buses are. I do think you (B2R) are severely overestimating the benefit of linking college campuses together. As a recent college student, I traveled to another university all of once in five years and that was only for extra credit. I've known maybe two out of...dozens of professors that regularly traveled between campuses and that was a rather rare occurrence. As Mr. Corndog says, the primary benefit is commuters to Atlanta and the odd person commuting to UGA. Most students either live on campus, or assume residence near campus. The few that don't are likely strung out between Lawrenceville and Athens with Lawrenceville being the farthest west due to the 40 mile distance, but that's still a relatively small number. The greatest benefit to the university population would be on weekends, and around holidays. The two cities certainly deserve to be connected, but nothing like MARTA-like heavy rail frequencies or investment.
But (alluding back to my 2nd sentence) the real benefit of the line wouldn't be realized until a greater network is developed, then you could talk about shortening the headways and providing greater round-the-clock service. People aren't only going to Athens or Atlanta. Why should someone visiting their kid on campus from Douglasville drive to Atlanta/the airport and then take a train? They'll just drive. Would someone from Marietta drive into Atlanta, or around to Tucker, then take the train out to Athens? No. The latter example is pushing things a little bit, but if there's only a single, painless transfer in Atlanta vs a long drive to one train, people would be more likely to take it.
Please spend money on more transit in the city and around the suburbs instead of trying to spend ultra amounts of money on a 'brain train'. What a silly idea.
I think you are vastly overestimating the benefits of linking the colleges.
You are vastly UNDERESTIMATING the benefits and impact of linking these 6 very-important university campuses and the multitude very-key locations in-between and amongst them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gtcorndog
You are talking about a project that would cost several hundred million dollars (at a minimum). How many riders do you think would use this on a daily basis? How many college students would use this on an average weekday? I don't think very many.
Based on the ridership of the Caltrain, a regional commuter rail line in the Bay Area which has a ridership of about 47,000 riders daily, runs the length of the San Francisco Peninsula down the westside of San Francisco Bay and connects Downtown San Francisco and Gilroy, CA (by way of the San Francisco Giants baseball park (AT&T Park), Candlestick Park (current home of the San Francisco 49ers), San Francisco Int'l Airport, ultra-prestigious Ivy League-caliber Stanford University, the massively-major employment center at Silicone Valley, California's Great America theme park, Levi's Stadium (future home of the San Francisco 49ers), Santa Clara University, San Jose Int'l Airport, Downtown San Jose, San Jose State University) and which at about 78 miles long is very-similar in length and nature to the proposed Brain Train passenger rail line (which will be about 80 miles in length when completed), and with the multitude of locations of regional significance that the Brain Train will be serving, with a base commuter rail level of service (average headways of 15 minutes between trains during rush hours, average headways of 1 hour during off-peak times, train service 21 hours daily between 4am-1am), the Brain Train will be used by about 50,000 passengers daily.
With a comprehensive heavy rail-level of service (average headways of 3-10 minutes between trains 24 hours daily), the Brain Train will be used by AT LEAST 80,000 passengers daily.
With the construction of revenue and ridership-generating large-scale high-density mixed-use development at and around stations along the Brain Train route, ridership on the Brain Train line would eventually grow to well over 100,000 riders daily with a heavy rail level-of-service with trains on grade-separated tracks operating at higher speeds and headways of 3-10 minutes between trains 24 hours daily between the University of Georgia and the world-leading Atlanta Airport.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gtcorndog
While it sounds nice to to link those schools, what is the practical benefit to provide a 70-90 minute link between these locations? Sure it would help with gamedays in the Fall, but that is about 7 days a year. How many UGA students are really looking to get down to Phillips Arena for a Hawks game? Sure there might be 7-10 concert events a year that might attract a few hundred riders, but other than that, I don't see much demand. What estimates are you using that you think the ridership would justify the cost? I just don't see the demand as commuter rail let alone 24 hour heavy rail transit.
The practical benefit to linking these locations (...the 6 university campuses in question along with the major employment and logistics center at the world-leading Atlanta Airport, the major employment center in Downtown Atlanta, the Georgia Dome, Philips Arena, the CNN Center, the Georgia World Congress Center (the 4th-largest convention center in the Western Hemisphere), a major mixed-use center at Atlantic Station, a major employment and emerging mixed-use area in Midtown, a major employment center at Emory University, an emerging employment center in and around the seat of county government in Lawrenceville in Gwinnett County, etc) is vastly-improved and increased connectivity between economic, entertainment, logistical and educational assets that are critically-important to the Atlanta region.
...Which is also why the Brain Train passenger rail project should be financially and logistically packaged with road construction projects to improve movement on nearby and parallel roads (like the full conversion of GA 316 into a managed Interstate-standard superhighway between Lawrenceville and Athens, the conversion of US 78 into a managed Interstate-standard superhighway between Loganville and Athens, the conversion of US 78 into a managed arterial between Stone Mountain and Loganville, the conversion of US 29 into a managed arterial between Decatur and Lawrenceville, etc).
There will also be great benefit to providing an option other than driving while also improving the option of driving itself by both implementing high-frequency, high-capacity passenger rail service and constructing busy roadways in a fast-growing and heavily-populated corridor that is home to upwards of 800,000 residents between the Atlanta Airport and Athens.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gtcorndog
How do you estimate private investment would yield a return on investment?
Private interests would yield great returns on investment in the Brain Train transportation and economic development super-corridor because of the Brain Train's routing through a very heavily-populated and fast-growing area of very-prime real estate just minutes from the world's busiest passenger airport.
The fast and direct connection between so many important and highly-visible locations (the world-leading Atlanta Airport; the Georgia International Convention Center; a highly-probable high-density mixed-use redevelopment at Fort MacPherson; the Atlanta University Center; the Georgia Dome; Philips Arena; CNN Center; the Georgia World Congress Center; Centennial Olympic Park; the Georgia Aquarium; the World of Coke Cola; an emerging mixed-use high-density area in West Midtown; Georgia Tech; Atlantic Station; South Buckhead/Brookwood Station area; the major educational, medical and employment center at Emory University; a large employment area at Northlake; Downtown Tucker; Downtown Lilburn; historic Downtown Lawrenceville and the fast-growing Georgia Gwinnett College; an emerging cluster of industry and employment at the Gwinnett Progress Center, the village area of Downtown Dacula, rural Auburn/Carl, GA; historic Downtown Winder; the rural village of Statham, GA; the rural village of Bogart, GA; historic and popular Downtown Athens, GA; Sanford Stadium; the University of Georgia campus), guarantees that the future Brain Train passenger rail transit line will have a very-robust level of ridership.
Transportation infrastructure is one of the absolute best and most-important investments that a society can make and real estate is the most-lucrative investment that private industry can make.
...Which is why the Brain Train super-corridor project (which combines the aspects of multiple modes of transportation infrastructure, real estate and economic development) will be so attractive to private investors.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gtcorndog
Heck, even at a few thousand riders a day (I think that is a fair, if not optimistic estimate), how does anyone make money on it? Sure they can develop real estate around the stops, but put some numbers together to justify the enthusiasm you are spewing.
Judging by the inherent negativity of some of your posts, you do unfortunately seem to personally know quite a bit about "spewing" things.
But moving on...for private interests, money will be made first-and-foremost from revenues generated from leasing-out the real estate at and around the stations as most of the stations themselves will become destinations with transit stations being located under or on the bottom levels of multi-use structures of various sizes (higher-rise development in the urban core, lower and mid-rise development in outlying areas) with high-density mixed-use developments both above and around the stations.
Money will also be made by private interests from inflation-indexed distance-based user fees on the modes of transportation infrastructure that private interests have term-leased from the public (inflation-indexed distance-based fares on newly-improved, upgraded and expanded rail and bus transit lines; inflation-indexed distance-based user fees and tolls on newly-improved and upgraded roads).
As far as numbers go, a couple of excellent examples are the Chicago Skyway and the Indiana Toll Road.
In 2004, after receiving an upfront payment of $1.83 billion, the City of Chicago leased the 7.8 mile-long I-90 Chicago Skyway out to private investors/operators for a term of 99 years during which those private investors/operators will pay all costs of reconstructing, operating and maintaining the Chicago Skyway. Chicago Skyway
In 2006, after receiving an upfront payment of $3.8 billion, the State of Indiana leased the 157 mile-long I-90/I-80 Indiana Toll Road out to private investors/operators for a term of 75 years during which those private investors/operators will pay all costs of reconstructing, operating and maintaining the Indiana Skyway. https://www.ezpassin.com/aboutITR.do
The respective roads are still owned and controlled by the public, but the roads are no longer officially a public expenditure that receives subsidies out of tax revenues (property, income and gas tax revenues in the case of the City of Chicago; and fuel tax revenues in the case of the State of Indiana).
The Chicago Skyway and the Indiana Toll Road are two excellent examples of privatization of crucial pieces of public transportation infrastructure because those two roads attracted heavy interest from private investors with only the relatively-modest revenues generated from inflation-indexed distance-based tolls and WITHOUT any real real estate component.
Add in the vastly-increased profit potential from a very-heavy revenue-generating real estate development component to the relatively-modest profit potential from inflation-indexed distance-based user fees and suddenly transportation infrastructure becomes infinitely more attractive to prospective private investors.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gtcorndog
If anything, this could be a potential commuter rail route and should be sold that way as linking the Gwinnett county area and the Athens corridor to downtown. Even here, I think the cost-benefit would be iffy.
You're seeing this project through the lens of a publicly-funded transportation project that would be paid for through the traditional way of raising sales taxes or with general fund revenues that just simply don't exist at this point.
This project should not be viewed through that traditional lens of using limited public funding to subsidize a limited a regional commuter rail project of a few trains each way each workday on existing trackage between Downtown Athens and Downtown Atlanta.
This initiative should be viewed through a new paradigm (by American standards) of a being a virtually wholly privately-funded large-scale real estate and economic development project with an extensive transportation element (in the form of high-capacity passenger rail transit...the mode of regional heavy rail transit connecting a very heavily-populated area with increasingly extremely-heavy traffic UGA's Sanford Stadium and the World's Busiest Airport at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Int'l Airport) being the anchoring headliner to the entire multifaceted real estate/economic development/transportation project.
It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to not link 6 (or more) of the region's most important and prestigious institutions of higher-education and all of the important locations in-between with the region and the state's number-one economic and logistical asset by stopping such a key mode of transportation in the Brain Train just 10 miles short of the busiest passenger airport on the entire planet.
...Especially when the Atlanta Airport is likely the most important point of logistical origination and destination in the entire Atlanta region.
When the amount of private investment (from the massive amount of real estate and economic development) that a Brain Train connection between the Atlanta Airport and the University of Georgia in Athens would attract is accounted for, the cost-benefit of the project would be spectacular, especially figuring that the public would have to pay very-little, if any, to fund such a major and highly-impactful transportation initiative with virtually no downside and an overwhelmingly massive amount of upside.
Wow, the world must be ending, I actually agree with Mr. Corndog, but only to a point. As a standalone rail operation, it would certainly be a success if ran like a conventional commuter rail route with maybe 30 minute headways during peak periods, 1-2 hour headways throughout the day with the rush hour service centered on Atlanta (westbound morning, eastbound evening) but not limited to Atlanta-peak-only the way the Xpress buses are. I do think you (B2R) are severely overestimating the benefit of linking college campuses together. As a recent college student, I traveled to another university all of once in five years and that was only for extra credit. I've known maybe two out of...dozens of professors that regularly traveled between campuses and that was a rather rare occurrence. As Mr. Corndog says, the primary benefit is commuters to Atlanta and the odd person commuting to UGA. Most students either live on campus, or assume residence near campus. The few that don't are likely strung out between Lawrenceville and Athens with Lawrenceville being the farthest west due to the 40 mile distance, but that's still a relatively small number. The greatest benefit to the university population would be on weekends, and around holidays. The two cities certainly deserve to be connected, but nothing like MARTA-like heavy rail frequencies or investment.
But (alluding back to my 2nd sentence) the real benefit of the line wouldn't be realized until a greater network is developed, then you could talk about shortening the headways and providing greater round-the-clock service. People aren't only going to Athens or Atlanta. Why should someone visiting their kid on campus from Douglasville drive to Atlanta/the airport and then take a train? They'll just drive. Would someone from Marietta drive into Atlanta, or around to Tucker, then take the train out to Athens? No. The latter example is pushing things a little bit, but if there's only a single, painless transfer in Atlanta vs a long drive to one train, people would be more likely to take it.
You make some good points, but one must keep-in-mind that Athens and Downtown Atlanta will not be the only destinations of note on the Brain Train line.
There will be multiple other destinations of significance along the Brain Train line (the Airport, the AUC, Downtown/Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Atlantic Station/Midtown, South Buckhead, Emory, Georgia Gwinnett College, etc) that collectively will generate a large number of passenger trips on the line.
One must also keep-in-mind that there are many students who live relatively far off campus and commute to class each day at universities like the AUC, Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Emory, Georgia Gwinnett College, and UGA.
One must also keep-in-mind that extending the Atlanta end of the Brain Train line to the world's busiest passenger airport and the region's number-one economic and logistical asset at Hartsfield-Jackson and operating the line at higher speeds on grade-separated tracks with high frequencies and low headways between trains will attract the high-level of private investment that will keep the public from having to pay for the project with politically-improbable tax increases.
One must also keep-in-mind that the Atlanta Airport is one of the absolute largest employment centers, not only in the entire Atlanta region, but also in the entire state of Georgia and in the entire Southeastern U.S.
Even though most airport employees likely live on the southside of the Atlanta region (below the I-20) closer to their jobs at the Atlanta Airport, the Atlanta Airport still generates many commutes from the Northside of the Atlanta region.
30-minute headways during peak hours and 1-2 hour headways during off-peak hours throughout the day with no direct connection to the region's number-one economic and logistical asset at the world-leading Atlanta Airport in a fast-growing metro region of more than 6 million inhabitants is totally-unacceptable.
One of the major problems with the Atlanta region's current transit setup is that trains and buses don't run frequently enough.
With the Brain Train connecting so many key locations, including multiple major universities, tourist attractions, major employment centers, etc, transit service on the line has to be setup to do more than provide limited service to a few-thousand commuters during morning and evening rush hours on weekdays.
The Brain Train absolutely must be setup to aim to provide extensive around-the-clock passenger rail transit service as needed (and wanted) to tens-of-thousands (if not hundreds-of-thousands) of rush hour commuters, students, sports fans, concert goers, business travelers, conventioneers, airport travelers, tourists, late-night/early-morning partiers, late-night/early-morning workers, short-distance travelers (passengers who only ride for 1-3 stops).
I absolutely agree with the pressing need to provide connecting rail and bus routes to connect with the Brain Train, which is why the critically-important funding method of private investment backed by revenues from for-profit real estate term-leases, inflation-indexed distance-based user fees, and Tax Increment Financing/Value Capture (property tax revenues from new real estate development around transit stations and along transit lines) should be applied on a widespread and large-scale basis across the entire Atlanta region and North Georgia...so that major rail transit lines like the Brain Train can have high-quality connecting rail and bus transit lines to feed passengers into them from other locations around the Atlanta region.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ant131531
Please spend money on more transit in the city and around the suburbs instead of trying to spend ultra amounts of money on a 'brain train'. What a silly idea.
I completely agree that more money needs to be spent on transit in the city and in and around the suburbs.
But with the future Brain Train passenger rail transit line being a major connecting mode of transport between the urban core in the City of Atlanta and the outer suburbs and exurbs out to Athens, the Brain Train is far from being a silly idea.
The Brain Train (and other assorted current and future passenger rail transit lines) becomes even less of a silly idea when it is taken into consideration that it can be funded WITHOUT public money that for the overwhelming most part does not currently exist.
With real estate automatically being such a heavy component of passenger rail transit in most cases (as real estate has to be acquired for new passenger rail transit lines and new transit stations to be built in many cases), we don't always need to attempt to spend public money to build and implement new transit lines.
Many successful real estate investors practice the tenet that the best way to be successful in business and in real estate is not to use one's own money, but to use other people's money...a tenet that should be used much more often when it comes to improving, upgrading, expanding, building and implementing new transit lines, especially with real estate being such a vitally-important component of transit.
Particularly here in the Atlanta region where anti-tax and anti-government sentiment runs particularly strong and new public transportation funding is not coming anytime soon (no matter how needed that public funding may be), the public needs to be more in the mindset of using "other people's money" (private investment) when it comes to improving, upgrading, expanding and constructing transit and transportation in general.
The brain train does not exist because no one can figure out how to make it sufficiently profitable. Otherwise, it would either have been constructed or be underway. Don't expect private capital to fund this. There are far more lucrative businesses and assets in which to invest in this neck of the woods.
Why would any investors want to spend their money to get a commuter line going when it would have to compete with hundreds of millions of tax dollars that have gone into building out and maintaining I-85 and GA316 that we then give away for free. Make the users of highways pay for its use (tolls probably) as you would have to for a train ticket, then watch the passenger demand and private investors flood to a commuter rail line.
Comparing the 'Brain Train' to the CalTrain is a very poor comparison. First, consider the population density along CalTrain vs. Brain Train. Second, consider the highway access, price of gas, parking, etc. in the Bay Area vs. along 85/Atlanta. Finally, and I don't mean to be stereotypical here, but look at the 'mindsets' of people in the Bay Area over the Atlanta / NW Metro Atlanta area regarding public transit.
The brain train does not exist because no one can figure out how to make it sufficiently profitable. Otherwise, it would either have been constructed or be underway. Don't expect private capital to fund this. There are far more lucrative businesses and assets in which to invest in this neck of the woods.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jsvh
Why would any investors want to spend their money to get a commuter line going when it would have to compete with hundreds of millions of tax dollars that have gone into building out and maintaining I-85 and GA316 that we then give away for free. Make the users of highways pay for its use (tolls probably) as you would have to for a train ticket, then watch the passenger demand and private investors flood to a commuter rail line.
These are two interesting points because before Georgia state law was changed in 2005 to prevent private parties from approaching the state and offering proposals for investment in publicly-owned transportation infrastructure, private investors had actually approached the State of Georgia with interest in the Atlanta-Athens corridor.
Most particularly, multiple groups of private investors had approached the state with proposals to pay the State of Georgia hundreds-of-millions of dollars upfront to term-lease GA 316 from the public for an extended period of time.
Under the terms of the lease, in addition to paying hundreds-of-millions of dollars to the state to lease GA 316 for an extended period of time, private investors would pay all costs of reconstructing, converting, improving and upgrading GA 316 into a grade-separated Interstate-standard superhighway for its entire length between the I-85 split in/near Duluth and the GA 10 Loop around Athens on a sped-up timetable.
Under the terms of the lease, those private investor lessees would also be responsible for paying all costs to operate and maintain the road during the life of the lease.
In exchange for paying all initial and continuing costs of construction, operations and maintenance, the private investor lessee would get to impose and collect the revenues from inflation-indexed distance-based user fees on GA 316 (distance-based tolls that rise with inflation so that toll revenues always cover the costs of operations and maintenance...meaning that when operating and maintenance costs rise, the tolls needed to cover those costs also rise).
After public outrage over the prospect of tolls being placed on what is currently an untolled road on GA 316 (even though the tolls would have paid to dramatically upgrade what can currently be a very-dangerous road into an Interstate-standard superhighway), the law was changed so that only the state (and NOT private investors) could initiate public-private partnership proposals on publicly-owned pieces of transportation infrastructure.
What's remarkable about many of these public-private partnership proposals is that private investors are showing financial interest in pieces of publicly-owned transportation infrastructure that don't have a large revenue-producing real estate component (roads).
Private investors have been showing increasing amounts of financial interest in modes of transportation infrastructure (major roads) with only the revenues from inflation-indexed user fees (tolls) as financial incentive.
If a significant revenue-producing real estate component were added to the relatively-modest revenue-producing component from user fees levied on pieces of publicly-owned transportation infrastructure (most particularly passenger rail transit), interest from private investors would most likely be robust to say the very least.
When a significant revenue-producing real estate component is added to the existing revenue-potential from distance-based user fees (tolls on roads and fares on transit), transportation infrastructure initiatives like the Brain Train become much more lucrative prospects for private investors.
If (and when) governments like the State of Georgia decide to add that lucrative revenue-producing real estate prospect to large-scale transportation proposals like the Brain Train and overall improvements, upgrades and expansion of high-capacity passenger rail (in packages along with upgrades to the existing road network), private investors will come with private capital to large-scale public transportation infrastructure projects to the tune of BILLIONS.
...Just like private investors have already shown interest to the tune of billions in potential capital in large-scale transportation infrastructure projects WITHOUT any revenue-producing real estate component like:
...The I-75/I-575 NW HOT Lanes (which private investors had offered the state roughly $500 million upfront to term-lease, construct, operate and maintain);
...The full conversion of GA 316 to an Interstate-standard highway between Lawrenceville and Athens (which private investors had offered the state roughly $250 million upfront to term-lease, construct, operate and maintain);
...Tolled tunnels under East Atlanta (which private investors had offered tens-of-billions of dollars to term-lease, construct, operate and maintain on a large-scale transportation project that was estimated to have possibly cost up to $30 billion, an amount which is probably more than 3 times what it would likely cost to build-out a high-capacity passenger rail transit network throughout the Atlanta region at this point).
If the State of Georgia is seemingly more than willing to marshal up to $30 billion in private capital to attempt to build what would overwhelmingly be a mostly unpopular and unwanted network of tolled expressway tunnels under Intown East Atlanta, then the state could very-easily marshal one-half to one-third of that amount in private to build a much more popular and critically-needed network of high-capacity passenger rail transit lines throughout an Atlanta region where severe traffic congestion on a constricted road network is an increasingly serious problem.
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